19:1 Then Job replied: (to Bildad)2 "How long will you torment me

and crush me with words? 3 Ten times now you have reproached me;

shamelessly you attack me.4 If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.

5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,

6 then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.

7 "Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.11 His anger burns against me;

he counts me among his enemies.12 His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp

against me and encamp around my tent.13 "He has alienated my brothers from me;

my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.14 My kinsmen have gone away;

my friends have forgotten me.15 My guests and my maidservants count me a

stranger; they look upon me as an alien.

16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.17 My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.

19 All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.20 I am nothing but skin and bones;

I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.21 "Have pity on me, my friends,

have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.22 Why do you pursue me as God does?

Will you never get enough of my flesh?

When Hope is Lost:Wrong Hope

Hope in DespairDead Hope

_____

Living Hope:Hope That Is Just

Hope That Worships

Wrong Hope:Self Righteousness

(E) 4:4 Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.

5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

6 Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?

7 "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?

(Z) 11:13 "Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him,...

18 You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.

19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp."

(series of “ifs”)31:24 "If I have put my trust in gold

or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,'25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,

the fortune my hands had gained,26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance

or the moon moving in splendor,27 so that my heart was secretly enticed

and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.

7:3 ...I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

4 When I lie down I think, 'How long before I get up?' The night drags on, and I toss till dawn.

5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering.

6 "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.

7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.

14: 7 "At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.10 But man dies and is laid low;

he breathes his last and is no more.11 As water disappears from the sea

or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,12 so man lies down and does not rise;

till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

13 "If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me

a time and then remember me!14 If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my

hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for

the creature your hands have made.16 Surely then you will count my steps

but not keep track of my sin.17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;

you will cover over my sin.18 "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles

and as a rock is moved from its place,19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash

away the soil, so you destroy man's hope.

6:8 "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,

9 that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off !

10 Then I would still have this consolation– my joy in unrelenting pain–

that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.11 "What strength do I have, that I should still hope?

17: 13 If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

14 if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother' or 'My sister,'

15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

16 Will it go down to the gates of death ? Will we descend together into the dust?"

13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him!

13 "If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me

a time and then remember me!14 If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my

hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for

the creature your hands have made.16 Surely then you will count my steps

but not keep track of my sin.17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;

you will cover over my sin.18 "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles

and as a rock is moved from its place,19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash

away the soil, so you destroy man's hope.

19:23 "Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,

24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!

25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

27 I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

8:11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?

12 While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass.

13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.

27:5 I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity.

6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

7 "May my enemies be like the wicked, my adversaries like the unjust!

8 For what hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

9 Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him?

10 Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

11 "I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.

19:28 "If you say, 'How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him, '

29 you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,

and then you will know that there is judgment. "

When Hope is Lost:Wrong Hope

Hope in DespairDead Hope

_____

Living Hope:Hope That Is Just

Hope That Worships